“Everybody is enchanted by it.”
It was commissioned by her husband, Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (1778–1854), whose military career is reflected in his son’s military style jacket. Both Charles and his older brother, Viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822) were key patrons of Lawrence for nearly 40 years and no fewer than eleven portraits of members of the family by Lawrence can be seen at Mount Stewart. Lawrence was one of the chief mourners at Castlereagh’s funeral in 1822.
This portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy before arriving at Wynyard in 1828. Charles wrote to Lawrence “Your beautiful picture is safely arrived and is today placed over the chimney in the great Dining Room. It is [impossible] for me to describe adequately the effects and improvements it [renders]…Everybody is enchanted with it”.
“the largest, finest and prettiest baby ever seen”
Frances Anne was the only child of the wealthy Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet, and Anne McDonnell, Countess of Antrim. In 1819 she became Charles Stewart’s second wife. Having had a lonely childhood she delighted in her own children. George, her eldest son, was born in Vienna in April 1821, much to her delight. She wrote “I was attended by a German woman, who could not speak a word of French nor I of German, yet when she said a little Prince was born, I understood her and I thought I should have died of joy. Certainly the moment when I found myself the mother of a boy was the happiest I have experienced before or since. It was the largest, finest and prettiest baby ever seen.” Mother and child were well cared for by no fewer than three nurses and Frances Anne’s layette cost nearly £2,000, from the best shops of Paris, Brussels, London and Vienna. George grew to be a healthy boy and later became 5th Marquess of Londonderry.
